Recycling

Brad Wohlgemuth                Thornton Twp. H.S.
                               151st and Broadway
                               Harvey, Ill. 60426
                               708-596-1000

Objectives:

Grade level 9-12

Students will match the vocabulary words with the definitions.

Students will explain the benefit of recycling to the environment.

Students will list three things they can recycle at home.

Students will list several ways that home recycling can be profitable.

Students will discuss how recycling may help solve the landfill problems in 
urban areas.

Students will name and locate on a map three different landfill areas in the 
south suburban area.

Materials needed:

The following materials will make one game packet for a class of fifteen. 

250-Index cards any size (number depends on class size, each game set requires  
50 cards 25 red and 25 blue)

3  18"X 24" Posterboard               1  Overhead projector

1  X-acto knife or razor blade        3  Transparencies

1  Ruler                              15  Pencils (regular school pencil)

1  Overhead projector                 15  Sheets of graph paper

1  Map of local area (road map )      300 Poker chips red, blue, and white

Strategy:

A. Discussion on landfills and problems that relate to the landfills.

B. Talk about the amount of waste an individual family creates and what it 
   contains e.g. plastic bottles 8.7%, newspaper 41%, aluminum 8.7% and glass 
   8.2% and misc. 35.6%

C. Show grids on overhead.

  1. Grid one shows one square, the square represents the garbage one family 
     creates in one day. 


  2. Grid two shows five squares, the squares represent the garbage of five 
     families in one day. 

  3. Grid three shows twenty-five squares representing the garbage twenty-five 
     families create in one day.

  4. Talk about the number of families in the area and the amount of garbage 
     created by those families. 

D. Intro to home recycling, what materials can be recycled and the benefits to 
   the individual and the environment.

E. Simulation game (for instructions and rules send a self addressed 8 1/2 X 11
   envelope to the address above) 

F. Graph the results of the simulation.

G. Discussion on the problem of volume in recycling and demonstration of 
   reducing volume and setting up home recycling centers. 

H. Homework assignment.

Conclusion:

The purpose of this exercise is to demonstrate to students the effect of 
recycling on the environment by reducing the amount of garbage going to the 
landfill.  In addition, the economic advantages to the recycler and the 
community will become evident after playing the game.  The lesson will give the 
student  the opportunity to experience some of the problems related to recycling 
in the home and in the community. 

References:

Laurence Sombke, The Solution to Pollution, published by Master Media Ltd.